About
About the Owner
Tim Birthisel
The Terra Sub Aqua method serves as an offshore marine life hatchery and reef habitat pilot project that could be scaled to help our Florida Keys coral reef ecosystem survive.
With a Zoology B.S, a career as an R&D director in agribusiness, and a SCUBA diving hobby, I became alarmed at the ecosystem collapse on the reefs in the 1980s. The disappearance of once prevalent stands of Elkhorn coral was especially troubling.
In 1995 I started a live rock aquaculture farm site, located 5.5 mi. offshore. Over the years the work has been helped by many volunteer divers, local experts, marine biology researchers and NOAA personnel, for whose assistance we are very grateful.
My approach to solving difficult problems is to do things differently than other workers. This is why, instead of locating in shallow water, I located the operation in deep sand outside the main fringing reef, in the largely deserted sand flats, deeper than the reef. I was counseled to relocate to areas with much less sand depth and less storm exposure.
I stayed, and after 30 years of dive trips, often digging buried substrate rocks out of the sand and seeking ways to stabilize the operation, I have arrived at a robust aquaculture method that features a deeply rooted steel tripod supporting a marine fossil rock called coquina. It appears to represent a reasonable facsimile of the old Elkhorn reefs well enough to allow the ecosystem to call it home. The shallower reefs are dying out due to global warming, overfishing, and pollution, but the Terra Sub Aqua farm is growing!
About Terra Sub Aqua
a business in the blue economy
Terra Sub Aqua (TSA), is an unusual business that shares appreciation of the beauty and biodiversity of the offshore coral reef environment in the Florida Keys.
We operate as a for-profit ocean farming enterprise, but unlike most businesses we radically improve biodiversity in the area where we operate by providing new habitat. TSA is a commercial marine sanctuary for hundreds of species of fish, invertebrates, and plants that live in a booming marine community which would not exist without our work; the area was previously “sand flats,” like an underwater desert.
Since the live rock and corals we grow for sale here compete directly with the unsustainable reef harvesters operating in the Pacific and Caribbean, we get extra satisfaction from helping protect the vanishing coral reefs around the world every time we stock an aquarium with our products.
We can appreciate artificial rocks and corals (unless they call them “Real!”) because it’s better than taking from natural reefs, as some countries outside the U.S. still allow. However, there is a limit to the educational and enjoyment value of artificial reef products, it’s akin to having a coral reef “screen saver” on a video display, instead of a real aquarium.
There are aquaculture operators that don’t benefit the environment when they rely on fish and critter collecting for their main income; when functional parts of an ecosystem are taken especially from higher in the food web, what remains doesn’t work as well.
Some importers from overseas take broken coral fragments from reefs for “grow out” in onshore or in-water racks until they can call them aquacultured. This doesn’t do much for the environment either, but at least it is reducing the damage compared to mainstream practice
Non-profit institutions and government contractors operate coral farms for restoration purposes, and we celebrate their dedication! There is a limit to how much our tax dollars and charitable donations can accomplish; the focus is usually on one or two species. and sometimes volunteers have to make a monetary “donation.” We love restoration but we need to do more, the problem of reef habitat and biodiversity loss is truly monumental. More of us need to get involved.
Most of the progress at Terra Sub Aqua has been through association with certified SCUBA divers who offer experience, skills and creativity to this enjoyable project. Past participants are positive about TSA, many have returned several times to assist. Some, especially marine biology and environmental science students, have reported crucial value in helping them pursue career and life goals.
You may never know how much fun it is to interact directly with the reef environment, surrounded by curious and amazing animals that have grown up without being hunted by people, until you dive with us. Let us know if this sounds like your sort of experience, Terra Sub Aqua would welcome your interest, and we can help you save serious money on your Keys experience.
Terra Sub Aqua is a fish sanctuary that serves as a refuge and nursery for thousands of juvenile fish
